tushanshu_logs

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[Open]

Characters: Donatello and OPEN
Date: April 27, and some number of following days, depending how this goes
Location: All over the city, but starting at ME-3B and hopefully ending at WA-3B
Situation: Leo ordered Don to get off the networks, so the brainy Turtle sets out to find his brother the old-fashioned way.
Warnings/Rating: Probably nothing exciting.

It takes Don the rest of the night to pick over the components of his console, put them back together again, and boot the machine in his best approximation of safe mode. This still doesn't solve any of the issues - unsurprising, since Mike Weston had told him the problem was in the network - and he checks his messages as carefully as possible.

Leo has left him a cryptic instruction. Not daring to reply, he memorizes it, then shuts down the machine and hits the street.

Where the water meets the steel. A shipyard? Don heads toward the edge of the city, where one is likely to be, but inquiries direct him westward towards the Water Sector.

As he walks, Don wonders if the sector border is what Leo meant. But the border is a long one - it took Don an hour to get across the city by car, and he can tell he hadn't crossed nearly all of it - and he doesn't know which side of the line his brother is on.

Or wait! What if Leo meant a weapons forge? Submerging a steel blade in water is a critical step in the sword-making process, and that's just the kind of thing Leo would think of when giving coded orders on short notice. But a place like that would most likely be in the Fire Sector, and that's really a long way… Maybe he can hitch a ride?

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Leo sighs and pinches the bridge of his snout. There had always seemed to be something of an unspoken don't ask, don't tell agreement among the Turtles of the multiverse. Not from lack of interest, but out of respect for the timeline and everyone's sanity. The more he hears about Mike's world, the more concerned he gets.

It doesn't help that those events do sound very familiar, only in a very scrambled order. Leo chances a questioning look at Don, wondering if offering their cousin any assurances that he'll find his Sensei would be... misguided.

It also leaves a bad taste in his mouth at how far away some of those memories feel. If Michaelangelo is from a place where their lives are just barely getting started... he only hopes his own counterpart decided not to go for that solo training run while staying at April's. With any luck, Mike and his brothers didn't have to live through that nightmare.

Edited (context is everything! tense correction) 2014-05-08 22:07 (UTC)

Mike looks back towards Don and Leo, one brow-ridge raised.

"So you've heard of them, huh?" He turns towards them more fully, back resting against the wall next to the window. "We thought that when Donnie and April killed the computer that controlled them that we'd heard the last of them, but...I guess we didn't get there in time. Some of them attacked Master Splinter, and when we got home all we found were signs of a struggle, destroyed Mousers, and blood."

Again he diverts his gaze elsewhere.
He remembers feeling the bottom of his stomach drop, and Leo and Raph yelling at each other, but not being able to do anything about it. Not being able to stop Raph from running off. Leo's the only thing that held them together that day.

"We thought he was dead. For months we thought he was dead, but apparently aliens had him the whole time. Always the last place you look."

Sorry Leo, not asking is not in Donatello's nature. Especially when it comes to things that relate to his own existence.

"The Utroms?" he asks. "TCRI?"

That's quite all right; Leo relaxes slightly when he realizes that they did, in fact, find Splinter rather than suffer in a Sensei-free world for the rest of their lives. However, he keeps a discerning eye on his cousin as he attempts to shift into a more comfortable position - this sort of subdued body language is uncommon from Michaelangelo, and a little worrisome.

Then again, can Leonardo blame him? In his world, he was the one to catch Sensei when he fell from the top of that building. He was the one to leave him, injured and alone, to rejoin the fight - and the one to lead his brothers back to the empty place where he had been. Dredging up memories like those - no, he supposes it's not that strange. He's quiet as he continues sipping his tea, listening closely.

Mike's best laid plans of keeping himself aloof during this conversation are dashed to the rocks the moment Donatello mentions TCRI. His eyes widen, and he places a hand on his scarred forearm.

They'd lived their entire lives in that city and not once had they ever come across the TCRI building before that night. The night when they ran into Foot Soldiers on the rooftop. The night Mike's guard slipped and his arm was slashed.

"The talking brains with faces. We didn't really have much of a chance at introductions."

Their simple recon mission thrown out of control by their discovery of Master Splinter in some sort of stasis tube.

Edited 2014-05-10 03:31 (UTC)

This is what Don has learned about Mike so far: Like his own Michelangelo, this Mike is very perceptive about other people, and greatly inclined towards taking care of their needs. But he goes about it much more subtly, deflecting attention rather than demanding it. He's full of bad jokes and he will tell stories until a Turtle's internal ears fall out, but somehow it all lacks the "anything to get people to look at me" timbre of the other Mikey's antics.

"Yes, them," Don says eagerly. "They -" He's about to tell Mike everything, but suddenly he stops himself and looks at Leo. "Are we going to catastrophically disrupt the space-time continuum if we talk about this?"

He can't help but look at Don a bit oddly, because usually that's the kind of question Leo would ask him. He considers it for a few moments, rubbing his hand across the table. Finally, with a wheezy sigh, he relents.

"I doubt it. As far as I can tell, these are alternate realities, not timelines." Leo glances back and forth between his cousin and brother once or twice, and then adds, gently, "Just remember - it's not all the same."

Mike snerks at Leo's reassurances.

"Yeah, I kind of figured that part out when the Little Guys said they'd only recently been allowed topside. Splinter brought us up there on missions way younger than they were. Don't get me wrong, they're good kids, but I can't see them challenging Shredder to a duel to the death."

Happy to have the topic of conversation shift, Mike looks at Don.

"They were adorable. Seriously, like...adorable. All like earnest and wholesome goodness adorable."

Don had almost forgotten about the medical kit, despite it still sitting open on the table, but now he reaches for it. "Who are we talking about?" he asks, as he concocts some sort of mixture out of the handful of available drugs. He hasn't entirely gotten a handle on the jargon of his new extended family yet.

It's just over the two hour mark when the sound of heavy coughing outside the suite announces the arrival of the last wayward brother. The front door bangs open with no other warning, and Raph stomps his way into the living room, sweaty and out of breath.

"Leo," he yells with far more gravel in his voice than usual, "I looked everywhere! You gotta get your butt out there and--."

He stops dead in the threshold of the kitchen, looking only mildly surprised to see everyone already sitting around the table with freakin' tea and sandwiches. Isn't that nice.

"Oh. Hi."

After literally running himself ragged combing every inch of the Water Sector, it's only Turtle Luck running true to form.

Leonardo's expression tightens again. It still feels like only weeks ago that it was him, Mike, and the young Leo in the same suite, a trinity of solitary souls. It's hard to say that he misses the loneliness that stemmed from a place just left of home, but at the same time, it was almost reassuring to live that way - each of them, guarding their own secrets and lives, but family just the same.

It was strange. And although he far prefers his brothers here, and wouldn't trade them for anything - he still misses the little ninja with a serpentine head and dark blue eyes.

He opens his mouth to respond, but before he can get a sound out, there's the loud bang of his second wayward brother crashing into the suite. Leo angles his head towards Raph, a tired smile twitching at the corner of his lips. Right on cue.

"Raphael," he calls with a rasp, and as he looks from Raph to Don to Mike and then back again, a sudden rush of undefinable emotion trembles in his veins. "You're late."

"Look what I found," says Mike using his very best Vannah White impersonation to indicate Donatello. TA DAHHHH!!

"Hungry?"
Did Don ever decide about that sandwich? Should Mike make another one for Raph?

The sandwich is untouched and now quite forgotten, as Don gets up to go to his sick and exhausted brother. "Sit down," he orders. "Drink something." By which he really means, "It's good to see you."

"By the way," he adds over his shoulder to Leo, "you give terrible hints. Did it really need to be in kanji?"

Leo sighs softly, setting down his half-empty mug and pushing it away. That's it. Everyone's home. He's too relieved to take offense at Don's jab, so he only cracks his neck to the right with a small grunt as he watches his brother and cousin tend to Raphael.

"It was the best I could do on short notice. We were being watched."

He doesn't look Raph in the eye, not quite yet - it's just been the two of them for so long. He'll need a few minutes to situate to Don being here before he catches Leo's gaze and absorbs whatever he sees there.

Adrenaline is an amazing thing. Once Raph got moving, he hardly felt sick at all, and even now he only feels about as half as bad as he looks. But all that's fading fast. His head's starting to swim again, and there's a rumbling in his guts that's reminding him too much of how sick he was a few days ago.

Hungry? No, he's definitely not hungry. All Mike gets is an upward tic of the corner of his mouth. Not really a smile, but just as fond. You did good, Mike.

"'S good to see you too, Donnie," he half-mumbles, cuffing his brother on the arm and giving it a strong, affectionate squeeze.

He takes a second to appraise Don from head to toe. His eyes linger on the bandage around his thigh a half second longer than the rest. Then his gaze is back again, looking him in the eye with worry and all kinds of emotional intensity he's not bothering to hide. "You all right?"

Forget about him. He'll take care of himself once he hears it from Don's mouth that everything's okay.

And jeez... Don's here. With them. It really hadn't had any time to sink in until he's standing right there in front of him. As much as he hates that his brother's been dragged into this mess too, he missed him. He missed him so much.

And then there's the bandage... it has to mean that time really does stand still. That Donnie-boy here probably didn't even know they were gone.

Mike tops up Leo's mug of tea, and then fills Raph's. When that's done, he returns back to his out-of-the-way spot by the kitchen window.

A family that is just slightly to the left of his is seated before him. It's as comforting as it is heart-wrenching. Once again he peers behind the shade of the window, not because he's expecting someone else to arrive, but to give himself something to do as he listens and pretends that the turtles assembled in the kitchen are his brothers and not his cousins.

"I'm fine," Don says, words and tone on autopilot. He had gotten that question way too many times in the weeks before his arrival in Keeliai... and none at all since. "I'm fine," he says again, quieter. It's mostly true.

Raph looks about as bad as Leo and Mike, and after a long look at him Don moves back to the med kit to see what he can put together for them. As he does so, he glances at the window, and Mike's sentry position.

"Is our location here a secret?" He doesn't really know why it should be, but there's a reason he's not the family strategist.

As his brothers conduct their reunion, Leo's eyes drift to Mike, watching quietly. He can imagine what's going through his cousin's head right now. To have a family of brothers who aren't brothers - he remembers a time, distant in the past now, when it was Little Leo and his three brothers. They'd never connected as much; the concept of multiple versions of themselves in different worlds had still been too confusing and wrong. Now, looking at the short, red-banded Michaelangelo, just left of the person he knows, Leo wonders how far away they stand from the family he knows.

More importantly, he wonders if it will ever be the right time to find out.

Don's question pulls his attention back to the matter at hand. He pushes his chair away from the table to face them, crossing his arms over his plastron and narrowing his eyes. His pounding brain is starting to get muggy... but Don needs to be brought up to speed as quickly as possible.

"It's assigned housing, so probably not. But the first attacks seemed centralized on kedan businesses and resources..." One palm comes up to press into his eye. "Economic warfare, maybe. If the city is still standing, he might be trying to break us down from the inside."

He'll have no idea for sure until he can get out there and see things for himself.

While Leo and Don talk business, Raph ninjas out of the threshold as stealthily as he can manage. With the adrenaline completely faded from his system, he's really not feeling so hot, and there's bile rising up the back of his throat even as he rushes down the hallway to the bathroom.

Hopefully no one will notice. He just pushed himself too hard too fast, and he really doesn't want to worry Donnie any more than he already is.

There's no real other way to explain it, but Mike feels the energy in the room shift as Raph makes his silent exit. He turns, looking up and over towards the doorway, not the slightest bit surprised to find it empty, but that doesn't stop him from frowning.

Thaaaaaat can't be good.

Don doesn't notice at first, being intent on his drug preparations. "Not normally something we'd get involved in, but they told me everyone here is supposed to get a job. Do you have one?" It's a half-idle question, as he interrupts himself to present a vial of yellow-y liquid. "This should help with the symptoms, at least. You all need to drink some."

The lack of immediate complaining alerts him to the disappearance of a certain opinionated brother. "Honestly, it's not that bad."

Leo tracks the shadow on his periphery as it slips out of the kitchen in the direction of the bathroom. Uh-oh. He doesn't turn to look, but attempts to catch Mike's gaze, flicking his eyes back towards the doorway in a silent request to go make sure Raph is okay.

"Mike and Raph work at a dojo in the city," he says in response to Don. His eyes skirting away, hesitates before adding, "I have a... contact who tips me off to jobs now and then."

Of course, then Don comes at him with a vial of yellow... gunk. Yellow. Leo subconsciously grips for his tea, pulling it closer. "I'm good for now," he reiterates, sitting up straight.

Please don't make him.

Mike gives a slight nod of understanding towards Leo before setting off to collect a few items to bring to Raph down the hall. There'll be that mug of tea he ignored, the sandwich he seemed to appreciate from afar, and a rather large container of fresh water. Quietly he slips from the room with the cobbled together care package.

The bathroom door is closed and locked. Inside, Raph's sitting on the floor in front of the toilet with his eyes closed, wondering if it's safe to get up yet. At least it feels good to get that crap out of his system. That is the one upside to puking, he guesses. Though now his head is pounding twice as bad as before.

Guess you win some, you lose some. All he can hope is nobody heard him. He's totally planning on playing everything off as nothing. Don just got here, and he doesn't want anyone to make a fuss over nothing.

"You're not," Don says. "It -" And then he realizes Mike has escaped too. "Hey!"

Shooting Leo a look of betrayal - just one of his charming passive-aggressive tactics - he goes to look for the missing Turtles, vial in hand. Mike and Raph might have time to clean up the evidence before he finds them, though.

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